Vendée Globe : towards a 6th victory for Incidences Sails?

Vendée Globe : towards a 6th victory for Incidences Sails?

For over twenty years, Incidences Sails has been the favorite offshore skippers’ sails provider. This can be easily seen through the 5 wins out of 6 previous editions of the Vendée Globe. With Titouan Lamazou (1990 with Voile système), Christophe Auguin (1996), Vincent Riou (2004) and of course Michel Desjoyeaux (2000 – 2008), the french sailmaker has a wonderful record on this legendary round-the-world single-handed and unassisted race around the world. November 10, they will be seven Imoca 60’ equipped by Incidences Sails on departure from Les Sables d’Olonne. Constrained by the Imoca rules, skippers still have some leeway concerning the 10 sails that can be embedded ; manufacturer, fabric or type of sails, the differences vary and obviously affect performance.

From skippers’ opinion, Incidences Sails is the most experienced in major offshore races such as the Vendée Globe. For Javier Sanso (Acciona 100% EcoPowered), choosing the French sail maker was evident: "Incidences Sails has the best performances on various transatlantic races and on the Vendée Globe. I clearly wanted to work with them from the implementation of the project. In addition they do a great job: sails quality and finishing show that they were made with the utmost care, taking into account the various details that we wanted to have. "

The experience and the reputation of the French sail maker therefore extend far beyond its borders, as evidenced by the Polish team of the skipper Zbigniew Gutkowski (ENERGA): " We believe Incidences Sails as being the most reliable company to have good and resistant sails. They are known to have a great experience in terms of shape, quality and sustainability. We have been cooperating for many years with La Rochelle and at the start of each race, we know we have sails that exactly match the needs of our team. '

Skippers having already participated in a world tour know that the sails must not only be effective but reliable and robust for more than 80 days at sea. This is the reason why Sam Davies (Savéol) decided to trust Incidences Sails for her second Vendée Globe. "Sails need to hold on in all conditions and this is the case with Incidences as I have experienced on my first Vendée Globe 4 years ago. Sails are only one aspect, as my choice was also driven by the great relationship with the team. It takes a very good understanding between the skipper and designer and that is what I find with Incidences. " explains the British sailor.

Another advantage of Incidences Sails consists in the availability of its teams to design, test, improve and ensure that each skipper has the desired sails. Sailmakers in La Rochelle and Brest, Caesar Dohy, Christophe Cudennec and Ronan Floch are the main skippers’ interlocutors.

Upon his arrival in Incidences La Rochelle in 2006, César worked closely with Marc Guillemot (Safran), "I have a special relationship with Marco as I am on board for every races in crew. We participate to 4 or 5 annual events. Safran has become the base ship and the majority of developments made in our sails and our teachings are from this boat there. I also work with Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud) whose base is La Rochelle. I often participate in trainings. '

According to Jérémie Beyou (Maitre CoQ) equipped by Incidences since 2004 in Figaro Beneteau 2, "Bertrand and Christophe (Cudennec) have the best perspective on this race. For me it is a huge guarantee of reliability. They also managed to evolve in surrounding themselves with young people like Ronan. They therefore know how to combine experience and innovation, so as for the technical reasons or for the working atmosphere, the choice was obvious”, he explains. "In addition, they are always available when needed. Ronan has sailed a lot with us and the sails made a lot of roundtrip to the sail loft for small improvements. I particularly remember the second leg of the Solitaire du Figaro 2011 when my spinnaker was teared upon arrival in Ireland and, without hesitating; Ronan has cut short his vacation to fix my spinnaker. Part of my victory in this Solitaire du Figaro 2011 is clearly his ! '

Incidences Sails wishes good luck to the 20 sailors who will depart on this 7th edition at 13:02 Saturday, November 10 and is preparing to celebrate a great skipper back in les Sables d'Olonne early February 2013, with a possible 6th victory for the French sailmaker.